Modularized decorative telephone ensemble

ABSTRACT

Both means and methods are disclosed which relate to a decorative universal telephone ensemble constructed in modular form for quick assembly and change of parts for repair or mixand-match selection of parts of different color and design. Interfitting members comprise a choice of interchangeable decorative parts registered in position with special fasteners made to be removed manually without tools such as knurled fittings or thumb screws fitting over studs holding members in place so that a customer may assemble at the place of purchase such as a retail store a complete decorative phone ensemble designed from his choice of interchangeable decorative parts. The decorative phone assembly includes a base section with a visible outer rim surface and universal registration holes for holding and registering telephone company inserts from various sources, a decorative cover member creating a space between the cover and base for the telephone company mechanism, a handset switch-holder assembly resting on the cover and a decorative multiple part handset assembly fit together with a series of manually removable screw machine parts including at least one hollow tubing member with terminating bosses respectively tapped and threaded for assembly in registration. A special dial cup assembly is provided with a conical bottom which registers with the bridge of a vertically disposed bracket to establish a comfortable dialing angle. The bracket may be a Ushaped member at front and back with extending legs or flanges constituting the sole fastening means between the cover and base and also with one such member holding at its bridge portion the dial cup at the conical bottom surface. A curved decorative medallion with a cloisonne pattern is part of the dial assembly and is held in various telephone dials provided by different sources by special members registering with its curved shape. This structure produces at the retail store a large number of combinations derivable from a small stock of telephone sets with parts of different decorative design so that the customer may design his own ensemble by interfitting parts from a few different sets.

United States Patent [72] Inventor Raymond Mirrer Long Beach, N.Y.

[21 1 Appl. No. 647,545

[22] Filed June 20, 1967 [45] Patented Jan. 5, 1971 [73 Assignee Design-A-Phone, Inc.

New York, N.Y. a corporation of Delaware [54] MODULARIZED DECORATIVE TELEPHONE OTHERREFERENCES Lafayette Radio Electronics Catalog No. 670 (1967), p. 2 l6. copyright I966.

Primary Examiner-William C. Cooper Assistant Examiner-Jan S. Black Anorney- Laurence R. Brown ABSTRACT: Both means and methods are disclosed which relate to a decorative universal telephone ensemble constructed in modular form for quick assembly and change of parts for repair or mix-and-match selection of parts of different color and design. lnterfitting members comprise a choice of interchangeable decorative parts registered in position with special fasteners made to be removed manually without tools such as knurled fittings or thumb screws fitting over studs holding members in place so that a customer may assemble at the place of purchase such as a retail store a complete decorative phone ensemble designed from his choice of interchangeable decorative parts. The decorative phone assembly includes a base section with a visible outer rim surface and universal registration holes for holding and registering telephone company inserts from various sources, a decorative cover member creating a space between the cover and base for the telephone company mechanism, a handset switchholder assembly resting on the cover and a decorative multiple part handset assembly fit together with a series of manually removable screw machine parts including at least one hollow tubing member with terminating bosses respectively tapped and threaded for assembly in registration.

A special dial cup assembly is provided with a conical bottom which registers with the bridge of a vertically disposed bracket to establish a comfortable dialing angle. The bracket may be a U-shaped member at front and back with extending legs or flanges constituting the sole fastening means between the cover and base and also with one such member holding at its bridge portion the dial cup at the conical bottom surface. A curved decorative medallion with a cloisonne pattern ispart of the dial assembly and is held in various telephone dials provided by different sources by special members registering with its curved shape.

This structure produces at the retail store a large number of combinations derivable from a small stock of telephone sets with parts of different decorative design so that the customer may design his own ensemble by interfitting parts from a few different sets.

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QQMMGR ATTORNEY MODULARIZED'DECORATIVE TELEPHONE ENSEMBLE In decorative telephone ensembles which are semicustomdesigned and purchased for use with standard telephone facilities, the replacement of an entire ensemble is many times necessary to correct a defective part because of casing design,

or complex assembly requiring special tools or skills. F urthermore, it is expensive to stock a large number of ensembles which are of various styles and colors to give the customer a choice which suits his particular tastes.

it is therefore an object of this invention to provide a readily assembled modularized decorative telephone ensemble, wherein a series of several basic interchangeable parts of different decorative design may be chosen manually assembled without special tooling or skill to provide a myriad of designs from a small stock of basic parts.

A further object of the invention is to provide at the retail store a method of producing a large number of different choices of custom-designed decorative telephones from a small stock of telephones.

Accordingly, each basic part may be fashioned with different colors and styles or from different decorative material or metals such as plastic, painted steel, brass and aluminum so that an ensemble may be custom designed by a purchaser and assembled on the spot. The basic parts are also available individually for repair and may be replaced without special skill or tooling. A choice of decorative features in a telephone 1 housing ensemble is provided by this invention by introduction of a modular assembly with a choice of features such as decorative dial enclosures and handset styling, which interfit in registration with a decorative housing assembly. In order to modularize the telephone ensemble and improve its functional performance as a telephone, several novel structure features are introduced such as a simplified 'U-shaped internal mounting bracket tying all the major parts in place with studs engaging removable fasteners. The dial enclosure comprises a novel cone-shaped cup mounting which establishes the appropriate angle to orient the dial mechanism provided by local telephone company for insertion in the decorative dial enclosure. Decorative medallion mounts are provided as well as decorative knobs and fittings, all of which are constructed to be readily assembled without special tools or skills.

To indicate the flexibility of the customer choice of a myriad of design features with a modest inventory of parts as afforded by this invention, assume that an inventory of four different colors or styles of each of six basic parts is stocked for a total inventory constituting the equivalent of four assembled telephones. The customer would then have a choice of a wide variety of different telephone style combinations which in the prior art would have required stocking hundreds of telephones assembled at the factory with the different combinations of parts to give the customer the same choice of purchasing a telephone ensemble having different adjacent decorative design features.

A specific embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings and reference thereto in the following specification will set forth with particularity various features, advantages and construction details afforded by the invention.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing disassembled parts of a decorative telephone ensemble embodiment constructed in accordance with this invention;

FIG. 2 is a partially broken away side section view of a telephone mounting arrangement afforded by the invention;

FIG. 3 is a fragmental view of a telephone handset subassembly in disassembled form; and

FIGS. 4 ad 5 are respectively, plan and side section views of a dial plate constructed in accordance with the invention.

As seen from FIG. 1, the decorative telephone ensemble comprises a base member 7 upon which a cover member 8 interfits in registration to expose visibly the side panels 9 of the base forming an interior space 10 with communicating apertures 11 in the base arranged in an array to receive and hold in place kits of telephone terminal apparatus prepared by different telephone companies, thereby permitting adjustment and ringing of the phone from the bottom of base 9 through apertures 11, for example.

A dial housing comprises a cup 16 with a decorative cap including a finger wheel 12 adapted for replacement by a dial mechanism kit from the local telephone company. For display purposes, a finger wheel assembly consists of decorative parts which are replaced by an actual dial mechanism assembly, including finger wheels of varying designs, supplied by various telephone companies, attached to said mechanism. The decorative cap supplied with the dummy finger wheel is removed by the telephone installer and inserted into the finger wheel supplied by the telephone company. For finger wheels as shown in FIG. 5 having a depression, the decorative cap 48 is inserted therein, being held in place by cement or an adhesive backing 49 affixed to the cap. For finger wheels which do not have a depression at the center, the cap is held in place by a ring supplied by the telephone company, using a separate component, such as metallic sheet 49 of crescent shape or the like with a keyway 50 extending out beyond the medallion, said keyway mating with a projection in the circular ring to affix the exact position of the medallion and prevent its rotation. The dial mechanism and decorative cap may be affixed within thedial cup by a bracket (not shown) positioned with standard holes for receiving in registration telephone industry dial mechanisms.

This dial housing cup 16 protrudes into space 10 within the cover member 8 at aperture 15 and interfits outside the cover member in the fashion shown in FIG. 2. Thus, the dialing assembly is inserted and held within the retainer cup 16 having its conical bottom 17 resting against the bridging section 18 of a generally U-shaped bracket 19 to hold the dial assembly at an anglea convenient for dialing, which may be, for example, 30 to 50 from vertical. The bracket 19 has two flanges 21, 22 in which studs 61, 62 are respectively affixed to protrude respectively through cover member 8 and base member 7 for registering the parts in position to receive without holding the studs in place the mating removable fasteners adapted for manual removal such as knurled nut 23 or decorative cap nut 26. Snap fittings or other means may be used to permit assembly and disassembly by hand without tooling. In this respect all major parts or members are interfitted with removable fasteners that do not require special tools or skills to assembly or disassembly. Even the legs (not shown) are fastened in corner apertures 24 of the base member (FIG. 1) by means of removable fasteners, so that legs of a particular style or color may be chosen. Each of the modules may come in various colors or metals and have decorative paint or covers, so the a person may select andmix-and-match from a small stock at a retail store those items suiting his taste in designing his own telephone ensemble. Part of the decorative assembly is the generally rectangular telephone number slot holder 63 on the cover member, which permits use of a cloisonne Limoges 48 in the center of the dial and yet conforms to the telephone company requirements to display the number by insertion of a paper telephone number slip. When in the store this may contain a distinctive label or trade mark identifying the manufacturer or distributor.

It is seen that the stationary U-shaped bracket 19 of FIG. 2 is the sole bracket or mounting element used in the entire assembly and this interfits with the base section 7 at fastener 23, the cover 8 at fastener 26 and the dial cup 16 at fastener 27. A similar bracket may be used at the rear of the cover plate but need not have studs 67 affixed to take wing nuts 27 for holding the dial housing in place. The dial housing 16 at the sloped bottom section 17 thus establishes a comfortable angle of orientation of the telephone dial with respect to the telephone set.

A decorative handset assembly 28 is afiixed to cord 29 and mates with brackets 41, 42 in switch-holder assembly 30,

which rest on the rimmed aperture 31 of cover member 8. Some of the various decorative parts of the handset may be assembled with removable fasteners, in this case comprising screw machine parts tapped and threaded for registration into at least one tubular section 32 upon which the decorative handle 33 of ivory or ebony, etc. is positioned. The interfitting relationship of the screw machine parts such as base 34, sleeve 35 and earpiece 36 of the handset 28 is shown in FIG. 3. Similar construction at the mouthpiece end 37 of the handset affords a choice of different colors such as brass, aluminum, anodized aluminum fittings, etc. in designing the decorative aspects of a custom telephone ensemble. In The same manner, the handset bracket holder-switch assembly 30 is constructed. The handle 33 has interfitting registration means in this case comprising grooves 39, 40 which mate in holder yokes 41, 42 to operate the upwardly spring-biased hookswitch assembly (not shown).

A decorative medallion 48 or Limoges is provided of a curved shape approximately a circular portion of the surface of a sphere, and comprising a metal sheet with a decorative cloisonne pattern thereon. lt may be notched at the edge or have cemented thereto a flexible plastic or metallic sheet 49 of crescent shape or the like with a keyway 50 extending out beyond the medallion 48. Thus, the Limoges is fashioned to fit within depression 51 one type of dial assembly used with a covering ring .clip. To accommodate dial assemblies from other manufactures, such as that shown in FIGS. 4 and where a depression 51 has a contoured surface portion of convex shape to mate with the medallion 48, an inner adhesive surface 49 may be used with the Limoges 48.

It is thus seen that novel decorative telephone techniques and structure are introduced by this invention which permits for the firs time a purchaser to have a very wide choice of selection of styles and shapes from a small inventory of basic telephone members. Thus, the novel aspects believed descriptive of the nature and spirit of the invention are defined with particularity in the appended claims.

lclaim:

l. A modularized telephone ensemble comprising in combination, a base member with communicating apertures therein, a cover member interfitting with said base member to visibly expose part of the base and to form therewith an interior space with said communicating apertures ,adapted to receive in said space a set of telephone terminal apparatus, a dial housing cup interfitting with the outside of said cover member with a slanted portion extending into said space, a

bracket inside said space affixed to said slanting portion, a removable switch-holder assembly extending from saidcover, a handset assembly comprising a plurality of interfitting parts having portions, interfitting in registered position in said holder, an fasteners interfltting each of the aforesaid elements and parts together into a telephone ensemble in which each of said interfitting parts may be separately removed and replaced wherein the base and cover have apertures registeringwith said bracket and said bracket comprises a generally U-shape bracket with a bridging section between two extending flanges constituting a single member between the base and the cover at one side, and said fasteners for said bracket comprise studs affixed to the two flanges of the bracket respectively coupled with the base and cover to extend through said apertures ,f

therein.

2. An ensemble as defined in claim 1, wherein the slanted portion of the dial housing cup is generally conical bottom with apertures therein for receiving mating fasteners, and removable fastener studs are affixed to the bridging section of said bracket to register in said apertures of the cup and hold the dial at an angle of the order of 30 to 50 from vertical.

3. A telephone set ensemble subassembly comprising a base section, a cover member interfitting with the base plate to visibly expose a portion thereof, a dial housing, a bracket generally U-shaped with a bridging section between two extending flanges, and means of fixing respectively the base section, dial housing and the cover member to the bracket as the sole means for holding the dial housing, wherein the dial housing is a holder cup having a substantially conical-shaped bottom, and the conical-shape bottom is fastened to rest against said bridging section of said U-shape bracket thereby establishing the angular attitude of the dial. 

1. A modularized telephone ensemble comprising in combination, a base member with communicating apertures therein, a cover member interfitting with said base member to visibly expose part of the base and to form therewith an interior space with said communicating apertures adapted to receive in said space a set of telephone terminal apparatus, a dial housing cup interfitting with the outside of said cover member with a slanted portion extending into said space, a bracket inside said space affixed to said slanting portion, a removable switch-holder assembly extending from said cover, a handset assembly comprising a plurality of interfitting parts having portions, interfitting in registered position in said holder, an fasteners interfitting each of the aforesaid elements and parts together into a telephone ensemble in which each of said interfitting parts may be separately removed and replaced wherein the base and cover have apertures registering with said bracket and said bracket comprises a generally U-shape bracket with a bridging section between two extending flanges constituting a single member between the base and the cover at one side, and said fasteners for said bracket comprise studs affixed to the two flanges of the bracket respectively coupled with the base and cover to extend through said apertures therein.
 2. An ensemble as defined in claim 1, wherein the slanted portion of the dial housing cup is generally conical bottom with apertures therein for receiving mating fasteners, and removable fastener studs are affixed to the bridging section of said bracket to register in said apertures of the cup and hold the dial at an angle of the order of 30* to 50* from vertical.
 3. A telephone set ensemble subassembly comprising a base section, a cover member interfitting with the base plate to visibly expose a portion thereof, a dial housing, a bracket generally U-shaped with a bridging section between two extending flanges, and means of fixing respectively the base section, dial housing and the cover member to the bracket as the sole means for holding the dial housing, wherein the dial housing is a holder cup having a substantially conical-shaped bottom, and the conical-shape bottom is fastened to rest against said bridging section of said U-shape bracket thereby establishing the angular attitude of the dial. 